E-books, the cultural scourge they ought not be

2012-02-21 23:03 (comments: 0)

This Teleread article says it all much better than my currently common-cold-virus-bogged brain could do it right now. This is why I steered clean of e-books until now. Oh yes, my curiosity was long ago piqued (what with being able to transport my personal library in my pocket and other shallow conveniences). But the old traditionally-educated eastern european that I am (for good and for worse) sees books as a 500 years institution woven with respect, mutual trust and pride-driven decency. Meanwhile e-books are oh such a technologically great and socially responsible idea, bogged down with petty commercialism, narrow-minded egotism and stupid execution.

It's not that Amazon did it in this particular case (removed Stephenson's "Reamde" from legitimate owners' e-readers) that gets to me. Much more important than the cretinous execution (that surely will cost them clients or at least creed points), is the fact that they can do it and will do it. This is definitely a step back in our endeavour (?) to reach a civil (as in civilization) higher ground.

It seems to me like the much sought after need-for-speed that gets fed into us with our food, our daily social interactions and our freaking technology shoot-ups, makes us way too much over-eager. We are ready to accept sub-par grammar and spelling quality, bad typesetting and shallow quality, trumped rights and social submission so that we have it now and have it all. Where did the old pauca sed bona go?